As I mentioned in my most recent blog post, Christmas was a special time for me this year for a number of reasons, one of which being that December 26th marked my six month Nome-aversary. And as promised, that moment has brought with it much reflection, which I’m about to share with you all.
As a lifelong sports fan, I look at this moment as kind of my halftime, reflecting on my play in the first half of the game, and looking forward to the next few quarters. I’m also doing a fair bit of reflecting on the ways in which the game has changed me and made me a stronger person. And since I always love watching sports interviews, I decided who better to interview me and get the most out of me than myself?
First question: what is it that brought you here to Nome, Alaska, and to KNOM in particular?
So about a year ago, my college graduation was just coming into sight. I knew I wasn’t ready for graduate school quite yet, and I didn’t want to graduate and figure out my plans then, so I began looking for post-graduate service opportunities. Through some careful Google searching and quite a bit of luck, I stumbled across KNOM and was immediately hooked. A radio station in rural Alaska? Sign me up. My goal was to have an experience that I’d never be able to have at any other time in my life, and I think that goal has definitely been fulfilled.
What has surprised you the most about life in western Alaska?
Hmm… I think I’m going to have to say the community spirit here. Even though people are pretty spread out across Nome and throughout the villages, there’s just an incredible community here in western AK. Everyone is willing to stop what they’re doing to welcome someone new or lend a helping hand to anyone in need, and that’s a beautiful thing to witness and be a part of.
What have been some of the most memorable experiences you’ve had so far?
There have been so many that I absolutely can’t choose. Here’s a list off the top of my head: hiking up Newton in every season, kayaking on the ocean, fishing with Rosa and Sam, summer evenings on the balcony with friends or dancing at Safety, dog-sitting some amazing pups, going for runs in minus ten degree windchill, more incredible sunsets than I can count, having a bonfire at a cabin in the tundra, chasing blueberries and tundra fires, cross-country skiing with the lady-vols, having a special visitor here in Nome, traveling to Gambell, Wales, Kotzebue, Teller, and Shishmaref for life-changing trips, seeing the aurora, snowmachining with Andrea, phone calls with my needle drop listeners, and every moment spent with the 2015-2016 volunteer crew.
Looking back at the last six months, how do you feel like you’ve changed?
Whoa, asking the hard hitting questions here. I think that I’ve become much better at going with the flow and at adapting to changes quickly during my time here. In radio, things often move pretty fast, and changes require a level head and quick reactions. Something else that has really changed me has been my trips to the villages that KNOM serves. My time doing interviews and interacting with our rural listeners has given me so much inspiration for my work here at the station, as well as further inspiring my goals for the future.
Good segue. Looking ahead a bit, what does the future look like for you, Maddie?
That’s a great question. At this moment, I don’t have a whole lot of details for you. The future feels too broad, so I’d like to just think about the next year of my life for now. I can tell you that I will be in graduate school, but for the moment exactly where and what I’ll be studying is not 100 percent certain. What I can tell you is that I’ll be excited to be able to spend more time with my family and friends in the lower 48, hopefully to adopt a puppy, to play as much volleyball as possible, and to eat Thai and Indian food whenever I want. I can also tell you without a doubt that I will be a changed person from my time here, and that, as Ric always tells us, I will spend every single day unpacking this experience.
And like every good sports interview ends, I have some final comments for the fans.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who’s made this experience a possibility for me. Thank you to my family and friends for believing in me and putting up with long-distance communication, everyone at KNOM for their friendship and support, the donors who make the station possible, and our amazing listeners, who make what I do worthwhile every single day.
